DeFi '25: 5th ACM Workshop on Decentralized Finance and Security

Abstract

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has undergone significant expansion, evolving from a niche market into a complex alternative financial ecosystem. This burgeoning landscape now encompasses a diverse array of financial services, including decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, stablecoins, derivatives, yield optimization services, prediction markets, and privacy-enhancing technologies such as token mixers. While the total value locked in DeFi protocols—estimated at approximately 77 billion USD—underscores its increasing significance, it simultaneously highlights the critical necessity for robust security measures. This workshop aims to address the pressing security challenges in the maturing DeFi space by convening leading experts from the fields of cryptography, game theory, economics, and cybersecurity. Our primary objective is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and showcase cutting-edge research that rigorously examines the current state of DeFi security and charts a comprehensive path forward. The anticipated outcomes include a prioritized research agenda, new collaborative initiatives bridging theoretical advancements with practical implementations, and a strategic roadmap for enhancing security in the rapidly evolving DeFi ecosystem. This year's program features a keynote talk by Prof. Vassilis Zikas, two invited talks by the winners of the Best DeFi Paper Award (theoretical research track and applied research track), and four presentations of accepted original papers, showcasing both fundamental advances and real-world applications.